Resources for Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)

Mississippi Bank's Disaster Recovery Plan Stepped Up With New Technology Center

www.banktech.com

While FEMA is no better prepared for a major hurricane today than it was when Katrina struck in September 2005, one bank has taken it upon itself to be prepared for future crises.

On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Gulfport, Miss.-based Hancock Bank dedicated a new state-of-the-art technology center. The 37,390-square foot self-sustaining center safeguards Hancock's critical operations.

Hancock learned its lesson the hard way during Katrina, when it’s former technology center was destroyed. The bank has poured $16 million and nine months into building this new center. More importantly, it moved it 10 miles inland and built eight-inch thick reinforced concrete exterior walls. The building can now withstand winds of more than 200 mph, the bank says.

Following Katrina, many of the affected banks’ efforts to get up and running were hampered by the fact that their back-up sites were located too close to their primary locations. As a result, the FFIEC recommended that banks reevaluate their backup site locations.

Prior to Katrina, banks were required to have disaster recovery plans in place, but as we witnessed, many of these plans were merely documents that didn’t transfer into realistic strategies during the crisis. It’s good to see a bank setting an example. While a robust, self sufficient data center is only one part of a complete post-Katrina disaster recovery plan, it’s a huge step that banks, both inside and outside of the Katrina affected areas, should be pursuing.

View the Resource

Share or bookmarklet this web page at: